but one God Mahomet is his Prophet and Apostle this is their profession of Faith nevertheless there is no mention of Circumcision in all the Alcoran they say they observe it in imitation of Abraham whose Law is recommended to them by Mahomet they believe that the Alcoran was brought to him at several times by the Angel Gabriel in the City of Mecca and that of Medina because the Jews and Christians had altered the holy Scriptures and the Law of God They are permitted to have four wives married at the same time and as many Concubines as they are able to maintain They can put away their wives when they think fit paying them what they promised them in contract of marriage and marry again at their pleasure but the women are bound to tarry until they are assured that they are not with child before they marry again and their husbands are obliged to keep and take the care of the child The children which they have by their slaves are indifferently esteemed with those of their wives and are all held as legitimate They have Temples Colledges and Hospitals well revenued they have covents of Religious that live exemplary obey their Superiours without contradiction and dance after the sound of Flutes and other instruments when they make their prayers They have moreover another sort of Religious Vagabonds through the world cloathed like fools of that Country they often go naked and cut their skin in many places they are held to be holy persons and live by alms which are never refused them both the one and the other sort of Religious are called Dervis they are known by their habit and can retire and marry when they please They deny Jesus Christ to be God or the Son of God neither believe they in the holy Trinity they say that Jesus Christ was a great Prophet born of the Virgin Mary a Virgin both before and after her delivery that he was conceived by divine inspiration or by a divine breath without a father as Adam was created without a mother that he was not crucified that God took him into heaven and that he shall come again on earth at the end of the world to confirm the Law of Mahomet they likewise affirm that the Jews thinking to crucifie Jesus Christ crucified a man among them that resembled him They pray to God for the Dead A great question among Mahometans they invoke their Saints of whom they have a large Legend nevertheless they believe not Purgatory and many among them imagine that the soul and body remain together in the grave until the day of Judgement They have Mecca and Medina that are two Cities of Arabia in great veneration because Mahomet was born at Mecca and buried at Medina they make thither great pilgrimages and believe that Land to be Holy They bear likewise singular respect to the City of Jerusalem for that it hath been the Birth-place and habitation of many Prophets They use no Clocks at the hour of their prayers their Priests ascend the highest part of the Tower that is in a corner of the Temple and with a loud voice call the people to prayer singing prayer composed for that purpose CHAP. VII The Seraglio or Court of the Great SIGNOR HAving before mentioned the place to satisfie some Curiosities concerning this Emperors pleasures in which he satisfies himself with variety conversing with his Mutes and Buffones for that it is not lawful for any body but the Vizier Bassa's and some few others to speak to him in the same signes and gestures and now and then riding and shooting and casting a heavy Iron Mace all which he is taught to do with great exactness I will transiently speak of that then which nothing is more secret and reserved viz. His Companying with women the beautifullest those parts of the world afford the greatest excellency and perfection whereof is reputed to consist in great and broad eyes the enjoyment of women so featured being made a part of their Paradise in the World to come They which are within the third gate called the Kings gate are about two thousand persons men and women whereof the women old and young one with another what with the Kings Concubines old women and women servants may be about eleven or twelve hundred Now those which are kept up for their beauties are all young Virgins taken and stollen from forraign Nations who after they have been instructed in good behaviour and can play upon Instruments Sing Dance and sew curiously they are given to the Grand Signor as presents of great value and the number of these encreaseth daily as they are sent and presented by the Tartars by the Bashaws and other great men to the King and Queen They do likewise sometimes decrease according as the Grand Signor shall think fit For upon divers occasions and accidents he causeth many of them to be turned out of this Seraglio and to be sent into the Old Seraglio which is also a very goodly and spacious place of which hereafter I shall take occasion to make mention Virgins made Turks and how These Virgins immediately after their coming into the Seraglio are made Turks which is done by using this Ceremony onely to hold up their fore-finger and say these words law illawheh illaw Allawh Mahummed resoul Allawh That is there is no God but God alone and Mahomet is the Messenger of God As they are in age and disposition being proved and examined by an old woman called Kahiyah Cadun that is Kahiyah Cadun the mother of the Maids as we say the Mother of the Maids so they are placed in a room with the other of the same age spirit and inclination to dwell and live together Their manner of life Now in the womens lodging they live just as Nuns do in great Nunneries for these Virgins have very large rooms to live in and their Bed-Chambers will hold almost a hundred of them apiece They sleep upon Sofaes which are built long-wise on both sides of the room and a large space left in the midst to go to and fro about their business Their Beds are very course and hard for the Turks neither use Feather-beds nor Corded Bed-steads and by every ten Virgins their lies an old woman and all the night long there are many lamps burning so that one may see plainly throughout the whole room which doth both keep the wenches from wantonness and serve upon any occasion which may happen in the night Near unto the said Bed-Chambers they have their Bagnos for their use at all times with many Fountains out of which they are served with water and above their Chambers there are divers rooms where they sit and sew and there they keep their Books and Chests in which they lay up their apparel They feed by whole Camaradaes and are served and waited upon by other women nor do they want any thing whatsoever that is necessary for them There are other places likewise for
in Gabriel the Porter there where he saw a Cock so great that standing upon the Moon his Coxcomb reacht into the imperial Heaven many millions of miles altitude and when this mighty Chanticlear crowed all the Cocks upon earth re-ecchoed him this he saw in the first Heaven In the fourth he beheld an infinite company of Angels whereof every one was a thousand times bigger then the Globe of the earth each of them had ten thousand heads every head threescore and ten thousand tongues and every tongue praised God in seven hundred thousand several languages amongst other of these Angels saith he was one named Phatyr or the Angel of mercy who was of that immense greatness that every step he trode was twelve times more then the distance betwixt the Poles This Angel said he had a quill or pen of Orient Pearl of such a length that an excellent Arabian Courser could hardly reach to the end of it in five hundred years continual galloping with this pen saith he doth God record all things past present and to come in such a mysterious Character that none but he and Seraphael can understand it with this quill were written all the hundred and four Holy Books viz. the ten which Adam received Seth fifty Enoch thirty and Abraham the remainder this pen forsooth also writ Moses Law David's Psalms Christ's Gospel and Mahomet's Alcoran In the seventh Heaven he saw the. Throne of God supported by seven Angels each of them so great that a Faulcon with incessant flying could scarce in a thousand years reach the distance of one eye from another fourteen everlasting burning candles hung about the Throne whose length according to Mahomets measure was as much as a horse could run in five hundren years There saith this blasphemer did he see the Almighty who bid him welcome and stroaked him on the face with his hand which was a thousand times colder then ice Here Mahomet for shame of his own baseness blusht and sweat six drops which he wiped from his brow and threw into Paradise where one became a Rose another a grain of Rice and the other four became four learned Men viz. Armet Sembelin Almamed Molec-zed Seh-naffin Who would think people should be so credulous to believe such antick stories but his other opinions were full as ridiculous as concerning the day of Judgement that he should paint it out by a great and fearful Duel betwixt him and death who being overcome shall be so inraged that he shall destroy all the world presently and being armed in flaming brass shall sound his Trumpet to each quarter of the world whose affrighting noise shall make all creatures to give up the ghost yea the very Angels also shall die as also Adriel who wrapping his iron wings about him shall strangle himself with such a hideous noise as is not to be imagined Then shall ensue a terrible earth-quake and a violent shower of parching brimstone which shall turn the world into a disordered Chaos in which condition it shall remain the space of forty days at which time God shall take it in his fist and say Where are now the haughty Princes the cruel Tyrants lascivious ' Wantons and covetous Muck-worms of the earth Then will he rain down mercy for forty dayes and nights together incessantly which shall reduce the world again into a flourishing estate Then shall the Angel Seraphiel take a golden Trumpet in his hand of length 500 years travel from one end to another with which he shall give such a sound as shall revive again both Angels and men who shall re-assume their former estate after this Michael the Arch-Angel comes with a mighty Ballance and poyses every mans actions in either scale those whose good deeds outweigh their evil are put on the right hand the other on the left Then is every man loaden with his sins in a satchel and hung about his neck with which they pass on a narrow weak bridge over the mouth of Hell now those that be heavy laden break the bridge and fall therein but such as have but few sins pass over securely on the other side of the bridge stands Mahomet who shall be transformed into the shape of a mighty Ram full of locks and long fleeces of wool in which all his Sectaries like Fleas shall shroud themselves then will he jump into Paradise and so convey them all thither Paradise he described to be as many miles about as there be Atoms in the Sun and that it is enclosed with a wall of ninety times refined gold ten thousand miles high and three thousand thick it hath seven Gates to enter in at and is divided into seven spacious Gardens and those subdivided into seventy times seven several places of delight In this place he promises to his Mussel-men or true Believers all sensual pleasures and delights imaginable namely that they should have garments of silk with all sorts of colours bracelets of gold and Amber Parlors and Banquetting-houses upon floods and Rivers vessels of Gold and Silver Angels serving them bringing in Gold and Silver Flaggons Milk and Wine curious Lodgings rarely furnished Cushions Pillows and Down-beds most beautiful Women to accompany them Maidens and Virgins with twinkling eyes Gardens and Orchards with Arbors Fountains Springs and all manner of pleasant fruit Rivers of Milk Honey and spiced Wine all manner of sweet Odours Perfumes and fragrant Scents yea whatsoever the flesh shall desire to have In this Paradise saith Mahemet there is a Table of Diamond seven hundred thousand dayes journey long this is for men to feast upon sitting on chairs of Gold and Pearl Gabriel the Porter of Paradise hath seventy thousand keys which belong to his Office and every key is seven thousand miles long questionless he must be very strong or else those keys must needs tire him Here saith the Alcoran shall men tumble in all manner of pleasure reposing upon fair beds lined with Crimson there shall they gather the fruits of the Garden to their contentment there shall they enjoy the company of fair and beautiful Damosels whose hairs be threds of Gold their eyes of Diamonds as big as the Moon their lips of Cherries their teeth of Pearl their tongues of Rubies their cheeks of Coral their noses of Jasper their fore-heads of Saphyr their eyes exceeding black and bodies exceeding white round fac'd sweet amorous and beautiful there shall they spend the time with these Virgins in pleasant Arbors who being enjoyed shall have their Virginities again renewed as often as lost In the midst of this delightful place saith he is a very high spreading Tree higher then all the Mountains in the world were they heap'd one upon another and so broad that it shadeth all Paradise The trunk of this extraordinary rate tree is all of Diamond the leaves of Ophirian gold and the boughs of jet each leaf hath an antick shape having on one side growing the name of God and on the other that of Mahomet Such
gross absurdities did he publish to catch the credulous inconsiderate multitude but his devices are so ridiculous that a wise man cannot chuse but smile at his conceits in pleasure this indeed hath made many of the most serious of them to mislike his inventions and sensual delights amongst the rest hear Avicena one of his own Sect Mahomet saith he hath given as a Law which sheweth the perfection of felicity to consist in those things which concern the body whereas the wise and sages of old had a greater desire to express the felicity of the soul then of the body as for the bodily felicity though it were granted them yet they regarded it not nor esteemed it in comparison of the felicity which the soul requireth Nor were his ridiculous fopperies of Hell less then the other namely that it was in the navel of the world compassed with a large high wall of attractive Adamant having seven gates of flaming brass to enter in at that it was divided into several Cells or Dungeons whereof some were more loathsom and fuller of torments then others which are prepared for those souls who have highest transgressed Some of these Caves saith he are so deep that a milstone in a thousand years cannot attain to the bottom and other places are without bottom In the descent of these deep Caves or Dungeons are placed sharp pikes and swords to wound and torment the souls that move there These Dungeons are full of flaming oyle and brimstone which striketh such a terror that the very Devils themselves do howl scrich and rage there beyond measure other Dungeons be full of serpents toads and all manner of venemous and noison creatures that can be imagined Here shall the wicked eat of the fruit of the Tree Zacon which being in their guts shall flame like sulphur they shall drink boyling water and every day have alteration of new torments Some Rivers saith he be full of Crocodiles others so cold as makes them gnash and chatter others boyl with violence of heat yet saith the Alcoran shall not these pains endure for ever for after so many thousand years when each soul hath suffered according to the demerits of the sins which he hath committed then shall they be delivered by Mahomet yea his charity is so great that he will deliver the Devils also first changing their affrighting shapes into others more tolerable and then by washing them in a River flowing out of Paradise called Alcanzar they shall become whiter then the driven snow and from thence forward sing Lala hillulaes unto Mahomet His doctrine of Angels was that they were either good or bad yet both subject to death the good as consisting of flame because Lucifer an Angel by ambition was cast out of Paradise the bad Angels are imprisoned in Dogs Swine Toads Wolves Bears Tygers c. After the Judgement day they must be tormented in Hell some millions of years and afterwards be delivered by Mahomet As absurd and ridiculous were his opinions concerning our Saviour Christ as that the Virgin Mary conceived him by smelling to a Rose presented to her by the Angel Gabriel and that he was born out of her breasts also that he was not crucified but Judas or some other wicked thief in his stead Christ being separated from them by a cloud that covered him which came from Heaven that at the last day the Righteous should enter into Heaven the Jews under the banner of Moses the Christians under the banner of Christ and the Saracens under his banner Having with these and the like odd whimzies patched up his Alcoran to give it the better credit that the people might imagine it to come from Heaven he devised this cuning way He secretly caused a wild Ass to be taken and bound his Alcoran being fairly written about his neck then as he preached unto the people he pretended a sudden rapture of some extraordinary thing that was revealed to him from above and with a loud voice spake to the people Ye have desired a Law behold God hath sent you a Law from Heaven go to such a Desart there shall ye find an Ass and a Book tyed about his neck which will direct you in the wayes which God hath commanded Thereupon the people ran in great hast and as they could do no other found it according as he had said so with great pomp they bring back the Ass with the book about his neck suitable to the bearer and now as thoroughly convinced they give great honour to this their new Prophet Thus were these silly souls deluded by this cunning Impostor who worse then Herostratus purchased to himself a lasting name by by the grandest wickedness that could be committed We shall conclude this Chapter with a brief Epitomy or Summary of their Religion such as it is wherein all those that are not wholly given over to sensuality and brutishness may see the ridiculous machine whereon the great fabrick of their faith is grounded A Summary of the Religion of the TURKS THe Turks believe one sole God in one sole Person Creator of heaven and earth the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked who hath created Paradise for the recompence of the righteous and Hell for the last punishment of crimes They believe that Mahomet was a very great Prophet whom God sent in the world to teach men the way of salvation and call themselves Musulmans that is to say recommended to God or saved They believe the Decalogue of Moses and are obliged to observe it they celebrate Friday as the Christians Sunday that day they assemble in Temples at noon to pray They are obliged to pray five times a day viz. in the morning at noon at the evening when the Sun setteth and an hour within night They fast the month or moon which they call Ramazan during this month they neither drink nor ear all the day until the Sun be set but in the night drink and eat according to their appetites flesh and fish except the flesh of swine and wine that is all times forbidden them after this fast they have the feast of great Bairan as the Christians Easter after Lent In this Bayran or Byram lasting 3 days they are very jolly and give Presents like our New years gifts especially the Grand Seignior gives and receives much They are great founders of Temples and Hospitals and are obliged to give to the poor the first day of the year the Tyth of what they have gained during the preceding year They believe that after being well washt saying some prayer appropriate to that Ceremony they have also the soul purified from all filthiness of sin which is the cause that they wash and bath often especially before they pray They have no Sacrament but Circumcision they cause their children to be circumcised at the age of seven or eight years and when they can pronounce these words La ilha ilha allha Mehemet rasoul allha that is There is
ambitiously sought after the same deeming them altogether unworthy but upon such whose modesty and desert he took special notice of that they were worthy of such favours so tempering the severity of his commands with the greatness of his bounty that it is dubious whether he were of his Nobility or men of War for the one more feared or for the other beloved both the great staies of Princes States fear keeping the obstinate in obedience and love the dutiful in devotion Although by Religion he was a Mahometan yet would he dislike no man for his Religion whatsoever so that he did worship but one onely God creator of Heaven and Earth and all that therein is he himself beleiving that God was one in essence and in himself immutable without change or diversity and yet for the manifesting of his omnipotency and power he created in the world sundry kinds of people differing both in nature manners and conditions yet all framed to the Image of himself so in like manner was he contented of his Subjects to be diversly served according to the diversity of their natures and manners so they worshipped no strange Gods which was the cause that he permitted the exercise of all Religions in those Countries subject to his obedience were they not meer Atheists or Idolaters His Army though very great was like unto a well governed City in passing thorough any Country with his Souldiers he took such order that none of the people whereby he passed were by them any thing injured insomuch that if a Souldier had but taken an Apple or other thing of like value from any man he died therefore so severe were his commands It is reported that one of his Souldiers having taken a little milk from a Country woman and she complaining thereof he commanded the said Souldier to be presently killed and his stomach to be ript where the milk being found he satisfied the woman and so sent her away who doubtless else had died for her false accusation had it not so appeared This severity with some other of the like nature was very conducible to the preservation of his Army which was so great that it was thought almost impossible to have found sufficient victuals for the releif thereof but by his severe punishment of disorders both Artificers and Merchants from far Countries resorted with their Commodities and Merchandise to his Camp without fear from every place for which they received present mony and so in safety again departed Those Cities that yeilded to him he favourably received but the other that refused to submit themselves to his obedience he used with all extremity He used often to say that a small number well conducted did many times carry away the victory from the confused multitude He rather sought to maintain his Army upon the spoile of his enemy though with some hazard then upon his Friends and Allies and when he sent out any part of his vast Army for the taking of any place he would command them on pain of his displeasure so to behave themselves that at his comming he might either finde the City taken or the Gates shut against him which they seldom failed for to do for he had his men at so great command that no danger unto them was more dreadful then his displeasure nor did he punish any thing so severely as cowardise insomuch that if in his disport of Hunting the wild Beast any one did for fear give way either to a Bear or Lyon and slew him not was sure therefore to die himself and to turn his back upon the enemy was no less dangerous then to run upon his own death That he was free from covetousness and that ambition with which many Princes are infected may appear by this That after his many conâ—â—ests in the lesser Asia and the overthrow of Bajazet the Empire of Constantinople being profered to him by the Emperors Ambassadors he returned this answer That he was not come from so far Country for the enlargement of his Dominions already large enough but rather to win Honour and thereby make his name famous to all posterity That he come as his friend and Ally and that his upright meaning therein was in greatest cause that God from above had beheld his power and thereby bruised the head of the fiercest enemy of mankind that was under Heaven That unto his courage he had alwayes faith joyned such as should never suffer him to make so great a breach in his reputation as that it should be reported of him that in the colour of a friend he came to invade the Realm of his Ally That he desires no more but that the service he had done for the Greek Emperor might for ever be ingraven in the memory of his posterity to the end they might for ever wish well unto him and his successors by remembring the good he had done them That long might the noble Emperor live happily to govern his Estate and that before his return he would so well consider for the establishing of the same as that he should not lightly fall again into the like jepordy alwayes assuring himself of his good will and favour towards him Having thus purchased an everlasting renown by his many victories and restored several Princes that had fled unto him for refuge to their ancient inheritances after he had long time wasted Phrygia Caria Lydia with the most part of the lesser Asia and conquered all Syria Judea Egypt and Persia with divers other great Kingdoms and Provinces he returned home beautifying his Regal City of Samorcand with the spoyls of a great part of the world before by him wasted where he for a long space reigned in great peace and glory Afterwards hearing of the rising again of the Turkish Kingdom under the Ottoman Princes he resolved for a second expedition but in the midst of his preparations he was prevented by death dying of an Ague the 27 of January in the year of our Lord 1402. whose death was ushered by a terrible blazing Star portending as it were to the world the death of so eminent a Prince who while he lived made such a bustle therein The Character of Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus THis famous and renowned Champion was son to John Castriot who reigned in Epirus in the time of Amurath the fixth King of the Turks about the year of our Lord 1422. His father not being able to withstand the growing fortunes of that ambitious Tyrant delivered him with his three brothers as hostages to obtain peace whom the perfidious Amurath promised to entreat well and honourably but upon the death of their Father poysoned three of them only this George Castriot for so was his name whom the Tyrant entirely loved escaped death For his excellent feature and pregnant wit he was by the Turks named Scanderbeg or Lord Alexander and in his youth shewed many tokens what a rare Scholar he would prove in the School of Mars He was of a very noble generous
to his Friends and so a child easily forgets both Christ his Parents and his Kindred that after if he chance in company with them he shall not know them No man can express by Words the Lamentations Cries Tears and grievous sighs at this distraction of Children The Father to see his Son educated in the fear of Christ torn from him and made an instrument of Satan to oppose Christ hurried from his Mother to live perpetually with strangers leaving whatsoever is dear in blood pleasing in society or loving infamiliarity with an everlasting dereliction after listed in the ranks of those the Greeks call Fatherless and Motherless yet many of these although they have denied Christ carry about them the Gospel of St. John In the beginning was the word c. in Greek or the Arabick tongue as an Amulet or preservative in their Arm-pits and with great desire they expect the Christian Sword according to some Turkish Prophecies should revenge and free them from those great afflictions and persecutions and that if Christians do it not whatever is the cause or with what mind soever hindred all very ill deserve of Christian Religion CHAP. X. A Narration of a Papists dispute with a Turk AFter I had travelled with much labour and many dangers the better parts of the world and seen many pleasant Towns and Countries as Socrates Plato and other Philosophers had diligently done at length I arrived at the famous City of Hungary Varadinum where by chance I met one Dervis Gsielebi a skilful man in the Laws of Mahomet who having dispatched his business with the Governour he very much desired conference with some Christian about Religion on either side This motion of his being published by an Interpreter and none for divers dayes appearing to encounter him in defence of the Christian cause though many Religious persons were in that Town struck mute and speechless at the courage of one Ethnick Infidel who seemed to me like Israelites that durst not adventure on one uncircumcised Goliah provoking them This I perceiving and grieving in my spirit that in such plenty of Clerks and learned men none was so well armed with Truth as durst though by Interpreters reprove the insolence of such an Heathen and fearing that so wicked and detestable a silence in so good a cause with so bad a man would betray the truth and render our Saviour Jesus Christs Opinion with him more ignominious I my self though never called to Ecclesiastical Function undertook the charge of arguing this point of Piety with him and so a prefixed day was agreed between us when multitudes of people of each Religion came as Spectators of the event The place was in a Monastery of Franciscans the day Whitson-Sunday day of Pentecost where he moved to me first this Question Where God had his being before the Heavens and Earth and therein all things else were created Which question though it seemed to me not much pertinent to our purpose yet lest he should imagine us ignorant of our great Gods universal presence I said He then was in his own being But when that seemed to him somewhat obscure and that he did not sufficiently understand it I then told him He was where he now is Which he understanding denied in the general and said Not so but that be then was in a bright Cloud Which when he earnestly affirmed I quoted Genesis for they also read the book of Moses and the Prophets and said If God were in a cloud before the Foundation of Heaven and earth then that Cloud must be created before them both and upon further argument on this point being at last convicted he would dispute no further in it but gave me leave to propound some Question to him and for solemnity of that days sake I thought fit to say something thereof and finding these words In the name of God his mercies and the Spirit of them in their Alcoran in the Arabian Tongue and Character I desired him to read them The mystery of the Holy Trinity Which when he had considered and wondred at he said Christian from whence had you this for in the beginning of all our actions we Musselmen use these three words and prefix them to every Chapter of our Alcoran when we sit down to eat when we go to prayers when we wash our hands or other parts of our bodies these words we first pronounce and these actions finished we sprinkle our heads with water and repeat these words In the Name of God his Mercies and the Spirit of them When thus he had confessed the Truth I desired to understand from him what he meant by the word Mercies who Replied He understood it literally without other signification Then I applied my self to the mystical interpretation and divided it according to Truth into three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and shewed them written in the Arabick tongue And when he saw I had mentioned the Son of God he questioned How God could have a Son since according to their Law and Doctrine of Mahomet God had neither Wife nor Child To whom I answered according to my weak understanding and capacity We Christians call God the Father for his Creatures sake being the first creating Cause and sole preserver of all created who was for ever in the same Essence he now is in and will be for eternity and is the first Person in the Trinity We believe the Son who by Mahomet in the Arabick phrase is called Rahman and signifieth Mercies so changed by him to be likewise God not according to flesh for God is a spirit born of a Woman but of the Essence and substance of God omnipotent begotten by God the Father and so took humane flesh by the Holy Virgin Mary suffered for us died and was buried and according to the saying of the Prophets arose again the third day and ascended into Heaven and sitteth at the Right Hand of God the Father there to judge the quick and the dead to render immortal happiness to those that have faith in him and to the unfaithful everlasting punishment I then presented him a Crucifix and said Behold this now and see if Mahomet did unworthily call the Son of the Eternal God by the Name of Mercies when with Armes thus stretched forth he calls poor sinners to his embraces saying Come unto me all ye that labour and are burthened with sins and I will refresh you And to render him more capable of the Trinity I pointed to the Sun saying You have a fair similitude here As there is but one Sun that hath Form Heat and Light So there is but one God and Father who hath â—the Son and the Holy Spirt which you call Rucahim consisting of three Person equally of one substance and from eternity coexisting This comparison wrought in him a belief in God the Father his onely begotten Son and the Holy Ghost a Trinity in Unity And when he had heard my weak discourses of
Ducats As to the Capy or Port by which is insinuated the safety and Harbour of such as address themselves to the Grand Signior the remarkable thing besides the Emperors places of pleasure which are hinted in the other part is the Divan or places of Judicature The Divan where the Visiers and the two Cadeleschers sit four dayes in every week Their decisions are speedy and most just for that the Grand Signior hath a place private to himself to inspect their Deportment A notable story of Sultan Morat and it is very certain that the late Sultan Morat being there one day and hearing judgement given against a Coyner to lose his right hand which is the onely punishment for that fact by a waft of his hand out of the window unseen to any but the Executioner gave a sign for cutting off the Fellows head as judging him to deserve death which the Executioner performing to the amazement of the Divan they sentenced him to the same infliction for sentence and Execution are done at one and the same time which the fellow preparing for and refusing to give any account or reason of his Action as relying upon the Emperors intervention was by his own mouth out of the same Privacy absolved and acquitted of the fact as done by his Command Besides by the Emperors publick appearance every Friday when he goes in great State on Horse-back to the Temple of St. Sophia attended by no less then 20000. men such is the Majesty and consequently the awful dread of this Prince though to their joyful acclamations he will answer by bestowing his blessings chearfully upon the people The Emperours publick apearance every Friday for prevention of Injustice and shows himself ready to receive all manner of complaints from all manner of persons insomuch that none of his attendants dare deny the receipt of any paper from the meanest wretch nor the greatest of his Officers hope for any favour upon any true information of their oppression and injustice I say by this means justice is kept most part uncorrupted and the Grand Seignior upon the account of his impartial severity towards his Ministers though he squeezeth to himself by their death or exile the juice of their oppression is most infinitely beloved and admired by his subjects being by his state magnificence and justice conceived by them to have something more then humane in his nature The Turks Trials As to their common Trials which is by way of viva voce and the Oaths of Witnesses though of late the attestation of a Musselman or Turkish believer is often taken for an authentick proof against a Stranger yet in their ordinary trials between one another they do proceed with more caution and upon surer grounds for even the Religious orders of which there are four and are presumed for the honour of their Religion not to be taintible with any crime are given most excessively to subornation and perjury extracting ground and just presumptions for sentence from private examinations and questions so artificially put as no premeditated combination can evade Turks reverence Oaths more then Christians yet generally the Turks bears a more awful reverence to Oaths then Christians nor are they found to alloy it with the poysonous mixtures of equivocation though the Jews that live among them are very prone to forswear and abuse that sacred name they pretend to have in so much veneration and for this reason and other wicked subtilties of that people they will not suffer them to turn Turks which they would readily do because of the same common principle of Circumcision unless they will first turn Christians which goes against the grain and keeps numbers of them from being converts to Mahomet But to proceed from all Judges both extraordinary and ordinary at the Port The Mufti and in the several Villages of the Provinces for a Justice or Caddie is appointed for every Town there lies an appeal to the Mufti or Mahometan chief Bishop who is next to be considered in the Government to whom all controversies difficulties or perverted judgement are submitted for his final sentence and even the grand Signior himself doth and must refer himself but his Oracle is sounded before and must not utter one word more or less then is directed to him and shall fit the convenience of State for as it hath bin excellently observed the Turk hath the Mufti and Mecca both in his own Dominions and is not forced in some untoward occurrences to apply himself to forreign dispensations And sometimes the Grand Signior makes not nice to remove his Arch-Clergy-man as well as other of his Tribe if they once interfere with the State yet without any tumult or Faction or scarce any blemish to the persons of the men who shall be reputed Saints and so Calendaried even if put to death such is the radical opinion of their unstained sanctity and integrity As to the Bashaws and Beglerbegs and their honours for life their posterity being reckoned for no more then common Turks unless their own worth shall raise them by which all potent combination of families is prevented as we shall speak of more liberally in the following Treatise In the time of Selymus were reckoned one million and thirty three thousand Christian souls to live within his Dominions The number of his Christian Vassals not accounting those that enjoyed freedom of conscience by priviledge nor those that then were subject to the Egyptian Sultan whom the said Selymus vanquished but now they are in far greater numbers The Jews likewise live dispersed over his whole Dominions Of Jews likewise in such infinite numbers that scarce no Town nor Village but is very populously replenished with their Families speaking divers Languages and using the trade of Merchandize in ample and rich fashion Thus to my power have I laid out the portraiture of this mighty tyrannical irreligious and bloody Empire which as it began by the sword and is propagated by the sword so let all Christians henceforth pray that by the sword it may fall and at last vanquish into nothing as of nothing to speak of it took Original CHAP. VI. Their Religion and Foperies THe Turkish Religion if we may give so high a Title to such a mess of non-sence is a hodge-podge of all sects and opinions but so ridiculous that any one well in his wits cannot chuse but laugh heartily at its absurdities and no wonder their Law-giver Mahomet being troubled with the Megrims that he should vend such trash and those people addicted to all manner of luxury should receive a Religion suitable to their sordid appetites To rehearse all his mad whimzical conceits would make a sufficient volume of it self we shall only in a brief Epitomy give you a taste of some of the most notorious by which you may give a guess of the rest And first concerning his opinion of Heaven whither he saith he was carried by an Angel and let